Published: 21 July 2025
Last updated: 21 July 2025
Caught in the middle of the Israel-Palestine debate is the last place I wanted to be at a nightclub. Yet somehow, that’s exactly where I’ve found myself. I’ve stepped off the dance floor for some ‘fresh’ air in a crowded, outdoor smoking section. Stuck in the corner amidst a sea of people, I tune into the conversation happening right in front of me.
A young Australian woman is asking a young Middle Eastern man where he’s from.
“I’m Assyrian,” he tells her.
“Oh, Syrian?” she replies, mishearing him. “I speak a bit of Arabic, Habibi!”
“No Assyrian,” he corrects her. “I don’t like Arabs. They stole our land.”
The woman is completely stumped. It’s evident she has no idea what an Assyrian is, let alone how it differs from a Syrian. Granted, the Assyrian people’s history is complex, but too often it’s ignored by young Westerners – especially those who pretend to care about minorities in the Middle East.
An indigenous ethnic group, Assyrians trace their roots back to the Assyrian Empire, a major ancient civilisation in Mesopotamia, which today corresponds to parts of modern-day Iraq, Iran, Syria and Turkey. Numbering about two to four million people, they are almost exclusively Christian, and speak various dialects of Neo-Aramaic.
Like many indigenous ethnic minorities in the Middle East, Assyrians have been victims of centuries of Islamic conquest and violence. In WWI, upwards of 250,000 Assyrians were murdered in a genocide led by the Ottomans. In the last decade, they’ve faced persecution and genocide at the hands of ISIS in Iraq.
Comments2
Krissy17 October at 03:40 pm
Your article is rubbish and delusional. The article completely distorts both history and intent. The claim that Arabs “stole Assyrian land” is simply false — it was the Ottoman Empire, the predecessor of modern-day Turkey, that occupied and displaced countless Assyrians. Any Assyrian repeating that narrative is misinformed and erasing our actual history.
What’s worse is how the author used one person’s words to serve a pro-Israel agenda, twisting our story to justify another ongoing occupation. Manipulating Assyrian pain to sanitize state violence is dishonest and deeply unethical.
tony o'brien22 July at 07:33 am
The appalling ignorance of even ‘educated’ Australians about the Middle East is shameful. Those who shout loudest about the Palestinian conflict seem to be those who know least and are least interested in learning.